


Occultstuck

by edwaredoh



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Kids are spooky, Magic is Real, Rearranged family trees, Trolls As Humans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-22 18:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13770090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edwaredoh/pseuds/edwaredoh
Summary: Had an Idea, about trolls as humans and the beta kids as kinds of monsters and the like.





	1. Into the depths

**Author's Note:**

> things to note:  
> Sburb won't happen, so don't worry about it.  
> Lord English also isn't happening. Or Callie for that matter. (sorry skullgirl fans)  
> The dancestors are the beta trolls older siblings  
> The ancestors are their parents (or grandparent in the case of the Dolorosa)  
> The family trees are a little weird, we'll see if I need to elaborate on those.

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and this is possibly the stupidest thing that you have ever participated in.

You're still not sure how Vriska managed to convince, not just you, but EVERYBODY in your friend group to gather here. And yet, the twelve of you are gathered in front of half-Harley manor on the first Saturday of summer as she explains the rules to her stupid game.

"...Throughout the house, and the last team standing wins! Any questions?" she finishes from her lofty position of the deck, looking down on you all with a smug smile. God you hate her voice. If she could manage any more snark, the universe would collapse on itself in a singularity of condescending bitch, taking everyone and everything with it. A single lanky arm is raised above a bushel of black hair.

"Yeah, could you repeat the part where you said all the motherfucking things? I was getting my listen on all over that, but then I spaced out for a while and missed that part." Your friend Gamzee asks sleepily. You slap your hand to your face and everyone, including Vriska, groans in annoyance.

"GODDAMNIT GAMZEE, HOW ARE YOU HIGH LITERALLY 100% OF THE TIME? I DON'T THINK THERE HAS BEEN A SOLITARY SECOND, IN ALL THE SIX YEARS I'VE KNOWN YOU, THAT YOU HAVEN'T BEEN DOPED OUT OF YOUR MIND. WHO IS EVEN SUPPLYING YOU WITH THAT SHIT?" You shout into the shit faced clown that you call a friend. Ever since your dad took the Makara case, it's sort of fallen on your shoulders to make sure Gamzee isn't trying to make pies out of laundry detergent, no matter how much his monkey brain screams at him "delicious fruit." He looks down at you with that ubiquitous smile.

"I don't even know best friend. It's just one of those miracles that happens all around us." He suggests with a shrug. The only thing that's miraculous for him that a) Weed is legal in this state and b) he didn't get stuck on something harder than that.

"Okay, because while I do love the sound of my own voice, I have better things to do than repeat my detailed, and well constructed instructions, so I'll give you the skinny, skinny. We're going in the manor for the weekend in teams of two. Whoever is left on Monday morning wins the game, sound good?"

"Yep, sounds all motherfucking good to me."

"Great!" she says with a wide smile and pulls out a sheet of paper "Equius You're with Nepeta, Aradia with Sollux, Terezi with Eridan, Karkat you get to manage Gamzee of course, Feferi you get Kanaya, annnnnnnnd Tavros You are with me!" She says focusing her eyes on the sheepish. He slowly raises his hand

"I-is anyone willing to, uh, trade partners?" He says while looking around. Vriska immediately descends from the deck and slides her arm over his shoulders.

 "Aww, whats the matter Pan? Scared to go into the haunted house with a pretty girl?"

"N-no, but I would be more comfortable if I was, uh, paired with someone less... crazy? Also, my name isn't , uh, Pan" Vriska gasps in fake offence.

"Pan! you wound me! I have nothing but your best interests at heart! Don't you trust me?" She does the eyelash flutter that girls do in cartoons to prove their innocence. 

"Not really." He says, looking no more convinced of this.

"Well consider this a trust exercise then, we're going to cross that finish line and claim the sweetness of victory. Together. Even if I have to drag your broken legs across the threshold of the door." She says and begins dragging him up the stairs. She releases him halfway up and walks up to the front door, which is cracked open.

"Besides, everyone knows ghosts aren't real." And as she pushes the front door open, a bucket of water drops from above her, instantly soaking her in water.

You can all feel her pranksters gambit dropping like a stone.

* * *

 

 


	2. In which Karkat is spooked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Gamzee try to settle down for the night

You have to admit, if Vriska getting soaked is the way the night will start, it can't be all bad.

After a round of accusations, you decide to just take Gamzee inside, rather than listen to Vriska and Terezi argue about who did it. Honestly, if you have to stand between another one of their one-upping contests you'll vomit your lungs out like some sort of sea sponge. The Manor itself is actually pretty nice. It's been abandoned for years, and there's no electricity, but it's not like someone built it specifically to scare kids, unless you are deathly afraid of blue lamps in the shape of salacious women. Wierd, but not exactly horrifying. That is not to say that the manor doesn't have the classic things a scary manor should have, such as copious amounts of bearskin rugs, suits of armor, and taxedermized bears and other vicious predators. You decide to settle down in one of the rooms in the second floor, it has a large window facing out towards the backyard. There's an old tree, with a tree house nestled into it's branches. The whole scene gives off a nice suburban feeling as the sunsets paints the clouds the purple orange it always does. Stupid clouds, all untouchable and ephemeral and stuff. You roll out Your sleeping bags and pull out a little outdoor cooking set and prepare to make dinner. Vriska at least had the foresight to tell everybody to bring camping equipment. Gamzee is rooting around the closet that you already determined to be empty, and returns with a simon says machine, then proceeds to sit down in the bean bag that rests in the corner of the room. 

"WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU FIND THAT? I CHECKED THAT CLOSET AND IT WAS AS FUCKING BARREN AS ERIDAN'S LOVE-LIFE." He tries to turn it on, but apparently the batteries had been removed.

"I don't know motherfuckin best-friend, I opened the door, and it was laying on the shelf all-like an abandoned baby, I looked into it's innocent eyes and couldn't just leave the little motherfucker all alone like a cold motherfucker who ain't got no motherfucking feelings to feel for his fellow man." He says taking out his flashlight and exchanging the batteries with the Simon says.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT, DON'T TAKE THE BATTERIES OUT OF AN ESSENTIAL ITEM FOR SOME MYSTERIOUS APPEARIFYING TOY." You shout at him as he the game begins beeping and lighting different sections as Gamzee follows along. His game quickly ends upon finding that the green quadrant does not work. He frowns and replaces his batteries into his flashlight. Satisfied you begin to cook a can of beans over a portable heater. You're pretty sure that it's against a whole bunch of fire regulations to have a bunch of teenagers using open flames in a long abandoned and musty house, but fuck that, you know what you're doing. Gamzee sits forward to look at you as you cook and frowns.

"Are we really gonna be engaging in any of the suggested motherfuckin SPOOKIN? I don't feel too great if I gotta get all nasty for the sake of puttin any motherfuckin fear in my friends." 

"WHAT? FUCK NO, WE AREN'T DOING A THING. KNOWING THESE FUCK-UPS IT PROBABLY WON'T EVEN BE ANYTHING INCREDIBLY SCARY. IF BY SOME FEAT OF COSMOLOGICAL CHANCE THEY DO MANAGE TO DO SOMETHING REMOTELY "SPOOKY" WE JUST LEAVE, THE ONLY ONES REALLY COMPETING IN THIS WILL PROBABLY BE VRISKA AND TEREZI. EVERYONE ELSE JUST WON'T GIVE A SHIT." Gamzee leaned back into the bean bag, his smile settling back onto his face.

"that's good, I wasn't lookin forward to any of that. I'm sick of all that motherfuckin fear nonsense." You look up at him and furrow your brow. He has definitely been more relaxed ever since his dad got arrested, but you know that he is probably suppressing all the bad with weed and will.

"HEY, YOU KNOW YOU CAN TALK TO ME RIGHT?" you ask, you shout pretty much everything you say, but the look on his face let's you know he knows that.

"Of course, motherfucker, I can talk to you and you can flip your shit to your crabby hearts content." He smiles and he sinks so far into the beanbag it's almost like it's eating him. 

Eventually you decide the beans are sufficiently "cooked" and you turn off the flame, beginning to divide out your servings when you hear the distinct sound of a honking horn.

"DID YOU SERIOUSLY BRING ONE OF YOUR FUCKING HORNS?" You shout at Gamzee and he puts on a puzzled look.  
"Well, I did, but that weren't motherfuckin me best friend." He defends himself while placing his hands in the air.

"OH REALLY? SO SOMEONE ELSE DECIDED THAT THE SCARIEST THING THEY COULD BRING TO THIS DOUCHEPALOOZA WAS A FUCKING HORN? I DON'T THINK SO." He makes a sad face.

"I swear it ain't me brother." He says, hands still in the air. "APOLOGIES IF-" you begin to scold but are quickly cut off by another voice. Your voice. From the other side of the door.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU INSUFFERABLE PRICK, HE'S NOT THE ONE HONKING. HELL, THE ONLY THING MORE ANNOYING THAN THAT HONKING IS PROBABLY YOU, IDIOT." 

"WHAT THE FUCK?" You say in confusion and another honk is heard in the hallway.

"STOP WITH THE FUCKING HONKING, IT'S NOT AS GRATING AS _THAT_ ME, BUT IT'S STILL PRETTY FUCKING ANNOYING."

"Sorry Karkat, I got my motherfuckin stress all up in here, which makes me keep squeezin the horn, which scares the shit out of me again. It's a miraculous loop of fear." The voice of Gamzee is heard in the hallway. You grab your flashlight and get up to open the door.

"OH SHIT I'M COMING, RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN" You hear your voice say from the hallway followed by the sound of two sets of rapid sneakers on old groaning wood. You swing the door open, and just barely catch a glimpse of somebody's shoe as they turn the corner. You run around the corner in chase, but the sound of footsteps vanish and nobody is there, only a solitary horn, dully reflecting the flashlights beam.

"ALRIGHT, WHOEVER'S FUCKING WITH US QUIT IT. I GOT ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH WITHOUT YOUR SHITTY ATTEMPTS AT SCARING ME. THAT WASN'T EVEN SCARY, JUST... WEIRD." You shout at the void. You stand there a while, staring down the hall and huffing. Gamzee comes up behind you, his shoes squeaking like fucking sponges.

"What the motherfuck was that all?" He asks in hyperconfusion.

"IT'S NOTHING, JUST SOMEONE ALREADY STARTING WITH FUCKERY OF A STRANGELY HIGH QUALITY." You say "LET'S JUST EAT." You are about to go back into the room, when the door slams shut of its own volition. Like those shitty horror movies Aradia watches. You try the knob, but it's locked. You're not sure there was a lock to begin with.

You bang on the door with a fist.

"ALRIGHT TEREZI, YOU GOT US, WE'RE LOCKED OUT OF OUR ROOM WITH NOTHING BUT OUR FLASHLIGHTS. NOW LET US IN." There is no response from the door.

"COME ON, WE WERE JUST ABOUT TO EAT, AND I KNOW YOU AND ERIDAN WON'T EAT THOSE BEANS." You continue to suffer the door's silent treatment. A growl of frustration rumbles in your throat.

You feel a long fingered hand on your shoulder.

"Come on motherfucker, let's find someone else to chill with until our door opens again." He says, smiling and holding the horn from the floor. He gives it an unintentional squeeze and jumps out of his skin from the resulting honk. You look at your disasterous friend and sigh.

"SURE, WHY NOT. MAYBE IF WE FIND EQUIUS WE CAN GET HIM TO BREAK THE DOOR DOWN." You say as you turn down the hall with flashlight in hand.


	3. Aradia goes awol for a bit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aradia, get's excited about things. Then gets very unexcited. Also Eridan and Sollux are there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As far as quirks go, I'll only be spelling the words how I think they'd be pronounced phonetically. So Eridan says who with only one w, but says wwhat with two.

Your name is Aradia Megido. You have always had a rather macabre interest in death and the afterlife. The fact that nobody told you that there was a prime paranormal hotspot within walking distance of the town makes you a little upset. However you are willing to put that aside for your interests. The house is a goldmine of supernatural artefacts, you'll have to come back later with your archaeology kit to uncover finer details and check the foundations of the house for more solid evidence. Currently you are desperatley trying to convince Sollux to let you plumb the depths of the manor's basement through the kitchen.

"No." He says absolutley. His arms are folded and his heterochromal gaze is fixed. The sun set about half an hour ago and you've only got flashlights to see and the glow of the fax machine that reads 8:43 pm.

The kitchen is filthy, boxes of chinese food litter every counter, the cupboards are dusty and covered in spiderwebs, you don't even want to find out the state of the fridge. There is a window to the backyard, where you heard Nepeta and Equius would be residing, but the blinds are shut, and you have no reason to open the door. Your goals lay in the basement.

"Aww, but Sollux, I need to get down there! I'm so close." You half whine.

"AA, I'm glad you're exthited about thith, and I'm totally down with walking down corridorth full of thpooky portraitth, and tacthedermied bearth, but I'm getting a theriouthly bad feeling about the thtuff down there. I don't want you get hurt. Or mythelf for that matter." He lisps at you. You pout at your brother. Sollux is not one to scare easily, the voices he hears are not nearly as friendly as yours, and in here they've never been clearer. But at the same time that's why you need to get closer. You can almost make out full words. Perhaps if you could get to the source, you might be able to understand them, maybe even commune with them!

You are about to make your case to Sollux, when you hear a whimsical and warbling moaning echoing through the manor.

"Foolish mortals! You hawe trespassed... into my domain!" The voice announces dramatically. You wait for a moment and it continues.

"If you don't leawe right noww, you'll newer leawe at all!" It warns

"I mean... my place is pretty swweet, but you're not allowwed, so get goin if you wwant to liwe." Unimpressed, Sollux opens the kitchen door. You follow him out as he drags a purple scarved boy away from an airvent he was speaking into.

"Ampora, that wath thome of the weaketht shit you could have pulled. I am thintherely dithappointed if that wath your betht." Sollux berates.

"Wwell wwhat the fuck was I supposed to do? Rezi fuckin abandoned me to chase after Wris." Eridan pouts and crosses his arms.

"And you couldn't keep up with her?" Sollux says raising his brow.

"You knoww she sees better wwith her nose than most people can wwith their eyes! She just fuckin ran into the darkness!" Eridan retorts. They presumably continue back and forth in this fashion, but you're not there to hear it. You took the opportunity to slip back into the kitchen and down into the basement.

At first it didn't seem all that different down there. But you can feel an ever so slight incline downward as you walk down hallways far beyond what could possibly be the foundations of the house. Then, slowly the theme of the design changed. First from a more modern cracked concrete to brick, to rotten wood. If you had any doubts about the supernatural properties of this place they are now erased. The only things that remain the same just are the clutter of boxes. The boxes are full of the belongings of the previous owners, and they line the endless corridors. It reminds you of the warehouse from the end of Indiana Jones, only darker and with more cardboard. Your nose is also treated to a distant, but omnipresent scent of sugar. There are many things down here that boggle the mind, and should scare you, but you're not afraid. Not in the slightest, because you've got more friends than anybody knows. You keep silent as you let the spirits guide you. Normally you can't determine anything they're actually saying, but right now, their voices are stronger than ever. They whisper friendly greetings, they say your name, occasionally they give you a direction. You don't know where they guide you, but you follow anyway. They have never given you reason to fear. 

You're not sure how much time has passed as you turn corner after corner, opening countless doors. The spirits that started as a few minute whispers, grow into soft musings and then a cacophony of suggestions and are about to reach the peak of their crescendo when they suddenly stop.

Dead.

Silent.

You are presented with an objective. A door. It is larger and heavier than any other door you've seen in the house. It is covered with hundreds of little carvings depicting, small children from a myriad of eras. The most prominent of these is a boy about your age. His wooden eyes are open wide, and a warm, but sly smile shows two goofy oversized teeth. The knob of the door is a deep blue glass. Funnily enough, it almost looks like a gusher. You outstretch your arm and wrap your hand around the cold glass. It turns slowly, each click soundingly like the barely veiled chuckle of a prankster, nyucking at the soon to be victim of his ultimate trick.

You push the door in about half an inch, there is a slight breeze as the air around you is gently sucked into the room. There is an overwhelmingly powerful scent of sweetness, if it were any stronger, it would drill holes in your teeth just by breathing it.You prepare to enter the room when you are gripped by the shoulder and whipped around. You are brought face to face with your brother who is wearing a mixture of fear, anger, worry and relief.

"AA! Thank gog! We finally found you! You thnuck off and I got tho worried!" He shouts at you, spitting a little on your face.

"Yeah, Radia, you should'we seen it. He nearly started bawwling his dichromatic eyes out wwhen he realized you wwere dowwn here." Eridan teases. "'AA, AA wwhere are you, I'm a utheleth infant without my big thither!'" He continues, greatly exxagerating his lisp. Sollux punches him in the shoulder, with little to no effect.

"Wwoww Sol, noww who's turn is it to be dissappointed?" Eridan finishes.

"Jutht, shut up and let'th get out of here." Sollux says as he grabs your wrist and begins walking away. You rip your hand from his grasp

"Hold on Sollux, we're right here!" You explain.

"Where'th 'here'?" Sollux questions.

"The source!" You say. "Where the spirits have been leading me, and they must have lead you here too!" Eridan looks confused as you say this.

"Excuse me wwhat? Spirits? The fuck are you two talkin about?" Sollux lifts his red blue shades to rub his eyes.

"Ghothtth athhole," he says to Eridan "and you actually lithten to them?" He asks you, in disbelief. 

"Yes, Sollux! They say nice things to me, and help me figure things out!" You shout at him.

"I know they are unpleasant for you, and Mituuna, and Damara, and Dad, and Mom, but they have never led me wrong!"

"Wwait, is that how you alwways ace your math tests? You get fuckin GHOSTS to help you cheat?" Eridan exclaims. You blink at him.

"I-I mean, I have done that before, but that's not the point!" You say with a huff. He frowns and crosses his arms muttering angrily to himself.

"AA, that shit ith dangerouth. You could get pothethed, or tricked! The dead are not to be truthted!" Sollux declares. You growl in frustration and put your hands on your head.

"How would you know!? You don't listen to them! They are my friends! I trust them and I think they appreciate me more than you do!" You turn to open the door again, but it is gone. You sweep your flashlight around the room. All the doors are gone. Then all your flashlights turn off without warning, leaving you in complete darkness. 

You hear the sound of a match being lit. You make out a tiny candle, held by a robed arm.

"True, the residents of external spheres can be fickle," a female voice calls out, " but it's just a matter of coming to an... understanding" She says as the candle is raised to the hooded face of a pale skinned girl, wearing black lipstick.

"Who are you? And wwhy hawe you trapped us here?" Eridan demands. The girl just smiles and steps closer.

"I am not the one changing the halls of this place, the house has somewhat of a mind if its own." She continues approaching "As to who I am... well, just another curious soul, wandering in the dark." She walks past the three of you, the candle now making a silhouette of her as she walks confidently into the void, any walls seeming to have opened up into a vast cavern. You see no other option but to follow her, as the only point of reference in the darkness.

She continues on in silence. The only noise you hear is the sound of your companions breathing and your own beating heart. The quiet of the dead brings the feeling isolation. You need something to distract you from that setting dread, anything.

"Why have the dead gone quiet? They usually can't shut up." Sollux asks, "Not that I'm complaining." He adds under his breath.

"The residents of the house have been so kind as to set aside a space for my practices, a girl needs her privacy after all." She explains.

"And wwhat exactly is it you're 'practicin' down here?" Eridan asks. She looks back at you over her shoulder with that smile like she knows everything. Not malicious, the way Vriska smiles, but playful.

"Communing mostly." 

"Communing?" You ask abruptly, "with who?" It can't be the dead, they are completely cut off in this part of the house.

"With  _whom_ , but grammar aside you don't want to know." She turns back to facing forward, "However, should you be overcome with curiousity, all you have to do is turn your gaze starward." You tilt your head, when you feel your brothers hand slip into yours and grip it like a vice... well, a vice tightened by a toddler.

"Whatver you do. Don't. Look. Up." He says through clenched teeth. You resist for all about a second and you regret it instantly.

Above you is an endless sky of what you thought at first were stars, but quickly come to realize they are eyes. Millions of beady, pupilless eyes that stare down at you. Imbetween them are massess of darkness that somehow surpass all other shades of black. They cannot be described in shape, there are pieces of them that are recognizable as things you've seen: tentacles, teeth, gaping maws, hair, scales, and beaks, but they cannot possibly be assmbled in the way that these horrific terrors from beyond are put together. It is as if chaos has manifested itself as the most spiteful and disgusting physical form it could imagine in its infinite permutations. Their visage grates against your mind in the worst way you couldn't possibly conceive, and every second it seems they grow closer. As you look into them, they too stare back, gripping your thoughts, probing your memories. Where you are small, and temporary, they make up all that is, they have been since before this universes conception and they will remain long after it's passing, because they willed it to be that way. You feel crushed as they fill your mind with themselves, and the end of every universe that ever is, was, or will be. You feel your sanity slipping as someone shakes you violently screaming your name.

"ARADIA!" You jerk back to consciousness and gasp for air, scrabbling at Sollux's shirt.

"AA! It'th okay! It'th thollux, your brother!" He says to you, though at the moment words don't mean much to you. You are no longer in a black void. You are in a candle lit tent of some sort, filled with dark purple velvety pillows, cushions and rugs. All with an eldritch motif. Sollux has tears on his face, and you realize so do you. 

"Oh my gog AA, you were Thcreaming and flailing, and I-I didn't know what to do, and..." Sollux presses his head to your chest "I wath tho thcared Aradia." He whispers. You nod absently as you look around in a daze. Eridan is standing, while shouting questions at the pale girl from before.

"Wwhat the fuck wwas that? My friend coulda gotten hurt! I thought she was gonna DIE or somfin! Answer me you mysterious BITCH!" She is willingly ignorant of his tantrum, simply sitting on a big fluffy pillow, knitting a squid plushy. She's still smiling, but now it's not quite as smug, it's more... beaming?

"What. Was that." You ask her, stopping Eridan dead in his tracks and causing Sollux to turn to look at her.

"They have taken a liking to you." She says, explaining nothing.

"Who are 'they'?  _What_ are they?" You press. She opens her mouth, but says nothing, as if unsure where to start.

"While you were under, what did you see?" She replies at last. You're not sure what she's trying to get at. 

"Thcrew that noithe. AA let'th get out of here before thith witch thummonth a tentacle monthter or thomething." Sollux says, standing up to leave, holding onto your wrist. You pull away from him.

"Hold on," you turn to the girl, "who are you?" She stands, setting her needles down.

"My name is Rose Lalonde. I gather you are Aradia?" She says giving a cursory glance at Sollux. You nod.

"A pleasure to meet you Aradia, I would love to discuss this topic at greater length, but I fear your brother has a point. It is getting late, and you should get back to the main house." She passes Sollux , picking up a candelabrum and opens a curtain that reveals a staircase leading up into darkness.

You all follow Rose up the stairs until you reach a door. Rose pushes it open to reveal the kitchen that you started in.  Sollux and Eridan eagerly ascend past her and you into the safety of the kitchen. Their flashlights flicker back to life as they do. As you pass the threshold of the door, the voices of the dead return to your head, settling into the their white noise role again. Rose takes one step in and you all hear a wet slapping sound. You all stop and stare in surprise at her. Could it be that she too can fall victim to human biological processes that cause embarassment and trigger snickers? It seems so, until you follow her gaze to her feet and see the source of the vile noise. A sassacre brand whoopie cushion. Rose frowns at the instrument of her humiliation.

"It appears the master of the house has struck me down from my position of infalliability." She picks up the pink rubbery cushion and flicks a switch on the wall. You hear the sound of a garbage disposal buzzing from the sink. She tosses the whoopie cushion in and you hear the disposal choke and sputter on it for a while before apparently passing it. She nods, satisfied at its destruction.

"The think hath power, but not the lightth?" Sollux poses. Rose shrugs.

"The house has strange priorities." You shake your head and pull out your phone to check the time and your eyes widen. It reads 8:48 pm.

"It's only been five minutes...?" That can't be right, it felt like hours.

"Time and this place have a... special relationship. You'd have to ask one of the residents..." She pauses then quietly follows. "He knows more about that than me." 

You're about to ask who that might be when you hear a scream from outside.

"Wwas that Nep?" Eridan asks. Rose moves to the window and parts the blinds.

"Is 'Nep' the one with the blue cat hat?" Rose asks.

"Yes! Is she okay?" You say worriedly. Rose steps away from the window.

"See for yourself." You take your turn to peer through the window into the backyard and softly gasp at what you see. Scratching at the trunk of the tree is a hulking creature, covered head to toe in thick, dark hair. It stands on two powerful looking backward jointed legs, standing maybe 7 feet tall. It barks through a long snout filled with teeth up at the tree house, from which you can see Equius backed into the corner of the small structure, with Nepeta held close to his side, fear in both of their eyes. Eridan and Sollux press up on either side of you.

"Howw many times do I hawe to ask this tonight? WWHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" Eridan screeches into your ear.

"A resident of this estate." Rose states as if obvious.

"Wwhy are none of your answers useful?" Eridan screams at her. Sollux just groans.

"Okay, letth focuth here. How are we going to help them?"

"I don't knoww Sol, wwhat wwill wwe do against a FUCKIN WWEREWWOLF." Eridan replies sarcastically, which sends the two boys into another argument. It's all very... what's that word Damara uses? Tsundere? Meanwhile, Rose draws the blinds, letting anyone outside see into the kitchen and knocks on the glass. The monster's ears perk up instantly and it turns its glowing green eyes to face you in the kitchen. Eridan and Sollux immediatley fly into a panic and scream for Rose to close it. Rose just smiles and waves at it. The beast stares for a moment at her, then lets out a piercing howl, before dropping to all fours and sprinting into the surrounding wood. Nepeta and Equius lean out of their sanctuary to stare into the wood, then swivel their heads over to you. You frantically gesture for them to come to you. They jump from their temporary haven, Nepeta landing into a roll, Equius hitting the ground like a rock, and dropping in apparent pain. Nepeta puts his arm over her shoulder, and helps keep the weight off his bad leg as they struggle towards Half-Harley manor. You open the door for them as they spill into the kitchen. They laugh and smile in the elation of escaping a near death situation.

"Eq what happened to your leg?" Eridan asks.

"I believe I twisted it while absconding into the fortifications, but I should be fine." He turns his attention to Rose. "Thank you stranger, for calling the beast away." Rose doesn't turn to face him, she just closes the blinds.

"I didn't necessarily do anything. I doubt Harley would have done much besides bark at you all night." She says. You all stare at her.

"Harley? Ath in, owner of half thith manor, Harley?" Sollux asks incredulously.

"The Harleys have total ownership of this estate, the previous residents just had some internal disputes, and decided to take on their other parents name." Rose responds.

"Okay, but that wathn't what I athked." Sollux presses. Rose sighs.

"Yes, that is the Harley name to which I am referring." She huffs, while opening the fridge.

"They've been hiding up here the whole time?" Nepeta asks.

"No, they have only recentley returned to their home. And only two of them." Rose responds.

"Tho there'th TWO werewolveth we have to deal with?" Sollux groans in complaint.

"You seem to be forgetting that you are the ones invading  _their_ home." She crosses her arms."Besides they aren't even-" she begins to say but is interrupted as an unexpected draft blows out her candelabrum. She pauses for a moment, considering something.

"Well, I suppose you'll have to find out yourselves." She says, pulling out a wand from her sleeves.

"I have to go for now, but perhaps we'll meet again later." She flicks her wand and the door to the basement swings open.

"Wait!" You say as she descends back into the black depths. 

"Tell your friend who tripped the bucket that she's been marked!" She shouts back, you can almost hear the smile in her voice as the door shuts on you. You open it again only to find a staircase leading to a dirty laundry filled basement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones a bit longer than the first two eh?  
> Let me know if you prefer longer or shorter chapters.


End file.
